Finding a lot of fans and a lot of success for a blues band that formed less than two years ago, A Ton Of Blues have already won the Worcester Music Awards for best blues and R&B band, and they recently won the Boston Blues Challenge, a victory that sets them up for the International Blues Competition in Memphis next winter.
Lead singer and harmonica player Spud Kelly recently discussed his band A Ton Of Blues and its warm reception in the greater-Boston blues scene. About two and half years ago, he made his move. “I was going through a change in my life,” Kelly said. “I’m a drummer. I’ve played drums for 37 years. Some things happened with my family. I wanted a whole change.”
Kelly had sung a little bit in his previous bands, but he decided he wanted to step out front and sing. He also decided to take up harmonica. Internet harp lessons didn’t quite do it for him, so he went out to some blues jams to play with other people.
There was a blues jam run a few years ago by eventual A Ton Of Blues members, bass player Jeff Lorenzon and guitarist Scott LeBlanc that Kelly attended weekly for six months. Soon, Kelly had his own blues jam on Sundays at Scooters. The original harp player couldn’t make it on Sundays, so Kelly jumped on it. The singer told LeBlanc and Lorenzon that he wanted to put a band together. “I wanted Jeff and Scott in the band,” Kelly said. “Three weeks later, we ran into Al (Clark). We just started doing that jam, and we started getting some other gigs, and we just took it from there.”
Kelly had a plan and vision for the hard-driving blues band with traditional flavorings. “We all had the same thing in mind,” the singer said. “We all like the same kind of stuff. We’d all been listening to the same things for a long time.” A bit older than his band mates, Kelly, when he was 17, got to see Muddy Waters play live. That kind of blues material always affected him.
A Ton Of Blues does not just aim for blues clubs. They recently played the Hard Rock Café and Church in Boston. In their native Worcester area, it is difficult for a blues band to play only blues rooms. “A lot of the other rooms are good for us too,” Kelly said. “It brings in a lot of other people that wouldn’t be listening to it, too.” A Ton Of Blues have played in upstate New York as well as New York City, and they are aiming to get into some rooms in the North Shore and the South Shore.
A Ton Of Blues did not accomplish these things by accident. Kelly had begun mapping out what he wanted the band do, goals he wanted to reach, when the band was forming. The Boston Blues Challenge was one of them, at least to get into the competition. He didn’t know he would win, though. “We’re pretty confident in our abilities and what the band is doing,” he said. “But we knew that nothing is ever sure. We went into this thing to win, but we knew that there were other bands in it to win too.”
The band had a winning strategy. A Ton Of Blues’ game plan was to a have a whole set in which all their songs would flow into each other. “Not have it sound like a group of songs,” Kelly said. They are now doing a lot of prepare for the competition in Memphis. The band is playing a fundraiser at the Bull Run in Shirley, Massachusetts next January 20, 2012 to raise money to offset their traveling expenses.
A Ton Of Blues eventually moved their jam from Scooters to The Black Sheep Tavern in Sterling, Massachusetts. Hosting the Bah-Jam at The Black Sheep Tavern has clearly built their name recognition and has introduced them to blues players from around New England. Each week, the Bah-Jam features a name artist from the New England area and beyond. Local promoter John Ippolito finds the talent to showcase. “John is from Leominster here too,” Kelly said. “John and I grew up together. I’ve known john for about 40 years.”
A marketing stoke of genius, the weekly Bah Jam at the Black Sheep has not only helped A Ton Of Blues get their name out in circulation, but A Ton Of Blues has simultaneously made the Bah Jam a familiar jam to New England blues fans.
Each member in A Ton Of Blues makes a major contribution to its sound. Guitarist Scott LeBlanc was, for the longest time, a behind the scenes guy while he practiced at home getting his chops together. Now, he’s considered one of the area’s best blues guitarist. “Scott had quit playing guitar for about five years and started up four years ago,” Kelly said. “He worked hard at it. When I saw him playing at the (first) jam, I was really pleasantly surprised at how much he had come along. He was awesome.”
Bass player Jeff Lorenzon grew up with LeBlanc and the two had hung out their whole lives. Lorenzon has been playing for years, in a variety of bands, and was always a standout. Kelly first spotted the bass man 12 years ago at a much previous jam. “A lot of the stuff that we write begins with Jeff,” Kelly said. “Jeff will bring something in. He’ll have some kind of riff and he’ll say listen to this.”
Drummer Al Clark, originally from Malden, came to Sterling five years ago, and had never really played blues before joining A Ton Of Blues. “He was into a lot of speed rock. He played in a reggae band. He listened to a lot of punk stuff,” Kelly said. “He was a Boston kid. When we hooked up, he had just started listening and playing to some blues records about a month earlier. That was why he had come to the blues jam.” Now realizing how intricate the blues drummers have to be, Clark has made studies of DVDs and books about blues drumming. “He’s totally immersed himself into it,” Kelly said. “Every week he’s got a new favorite. He loves James Cotton’s drummer.”
A Ton Of Blues already have a few original songs in the can. Kelly wrote their tune “Sweetie Pie” in ten minutes. He was sitting in his living room, watching his granddaughter play. “Sweetie Pie” is her nickname. “I just had this lick in my head,” Kelly said. “For some reason I sat down and started writing some things down. I put a melody to it in my head. I don’t play any musical instruments, other than the harmonica. So I brought it to the band and I just kind of sang it to them. I don’t want to say it’s about my granddaughter, but she inspired it.”
“When It Comes To Love” “This Thing I Do” “Salt And Sugar Cane” and a slide song called “Colleen” are their other originals. “Salt And Sugar Cane” was brought in by Lorenzon as a riff he came up with; then he worked on it with drummer Clark. Next, Kelly wrote the lyrics about a man who was left by his girl who eventually came back to him.
“This Thing I Do” was also lyrically written by Kelly. It is essentially a freedom through pain theme. “I’m saying to a woman thanks for fucking me all up, but if you didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m
doing now.”
LeBlanc and Lorenzon both use effects pedals manufactured by Hudson, Massachusetts’s fast rising company Celestial Effects, and both players think that line of products impacts their sound. “I don’t know personally, but according to both those guys, they really do,” Kelly said. “Scott was using a different pedal before, and he got these pedals from Celestial and he said, ’Oh yah, man. This is what I’m looking for.’ On every song that we do, he’s using the pedals, and so is Jeff.”
A Ton Of Blues will next week head into Media Boss Studios in Framingham, Massachusetts. The band will likely have a seven song CD before they head down to Memphis.
And again, On January 20th 2012, A Ton Of Blues will be the focus of a fundraiser held to help off set the costs of traveling to Memphis for the IBC. Boston Blue Society hosts the event at the Bull Run in Shirley, Massachusetts.
